The Heart Upon Your Sleeve
In the Psalm 101, David prays to live an open life that is built upon integrity. Psalm 101:2 right out jets to the heart of the matter by calling attention to how the heart should be in order to have an outflow for integrity. Reading these verses brings to mind Proverbs 4:23 "Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life." (HCSB) If one were to put two and two together, it is easy to arrive upon the conclusion that if integrity comes from the heart and it is well guarded, then everything else that flows from the heart will follow too. Besides integrity, the heart will produce an ability to be bold in praying, scripture devotions, serving, and sharing of faith. However, depending on how open your life is to others, these things may fail if your integrity is not seen strong in the eyes of others and if that's the case, all may have been lost in witnessing to those persons. So guard your heart ... how? David helps us in verses 3 & 4. It is dependent on how we carry out our lives. Ben Ortlip wrote an article in a Catalyst magazine about factors that can contribute to your integrity. He calls this the "Integrity Quotient". In a nutshell, these factors were how you approach undesirable contacts, how you approach your self-esteem, how people approach you using their opinion, and how you approach yourself using opinion. Using these factors to monitor your strengths and weaknesses will help guard your heart. Once heavily guarded, it will block evil and let only out the true nature of your integrity and in turn will show the true power of Jesus Christ in your life. People will see Him in you and will want the same. Are you guarding your heart and letting it produce your source of integrity in life? Are you able to wear your heart on your sleeve?
